Next steps in studying the human microbiome and health in prospective studies, Bethesda, MD, May 16-17, 2017

Rashmi Sinha; Habibul Ahsan; Martin Blaser; J Gregory Caporaso; Joseph Russell Carmical; Andrew T Chan; Anthony Fodor; Mitchell H Gail; Curtis C Harris; Kathy Helzlsouer; Curtis Huttenhower; Rob Knight; Heidi H Kong; Gabriel Y Lai; Diane Leigh Smith Hutchinson; Loic Le Marchand; Hongzhe Li; Michael J Orlich; Jianxin Shi; Ann Truelove; Mukesh Verma; Emily Vogtmann; Owen White; Walter Willett; Wei Zheng; Somdat Mahabir; Christian Abnet

doi:10.1186/s40168-018-0596-z

Next steps in studying the human microbiome and health in prospective studies, Bethesda, MD, May 16-17, 2017

Microbiome. 2018 Nov 26;6(1):210. doi: 10.1186/s40168-018-0596-z.

Authors

Rashmi Sinha¹, Habibul Ahsan², Martin Blaser³, J Gregory Caporaso⁴, Joseph Russell Carmical⁵, Andrew T Chan^{6

7

8

9

10}, Anthony Fodor¹¹, Mitchell H Gail¹², Curtis C Harris¹³, Kathy Helzlsouer¹⁴, Curtis Huttenhower^{10

15}, Rob Knight¹⁶, Heidi H Kong¹⁷, Gabriel Y Lai¹⁸, Diane Leigh Smith Hutchinson¹⁹, Loic Le Marchand²⁰, Hongzhe Li²¹, Michael J Orlich²², Jianxin Shi¹², Ann Truelove²³, Mukesh Verma¹⁴, Emily Vogtmann¹², Owen White²⁴, Walter Willett^{8

25}, Wei Zheng²⁶, Somdat Mahabir¹⁴, Christian Abnet¹²

Affiliations

¹ Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA. sinhar@nih.gov.
² Comprehensive Cancer Center University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences, Chicago, IL, 60615, USA.
³ Departments of Medicine and Microbiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, 10016, USA.
⁴ Pathogen and Microbiome Institute and Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA.
⁵ Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
⁶ Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
⁷ Division of Gastroenterology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
⁸ Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
⁹ Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
¹⁰ Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA.
¹¹ Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, 28223, USA.
¹² Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
¹³ Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
¹⁴ Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
¹⁶ Center for Microbiome Innovation, and Departments of Pediatrics and Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, 92093, USA.
¹⁷ Dermatology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
¹⁸ Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
¹⁹ Alkek Center for Metagenomics and Microbiome Research, Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
²⁰ Cancer Epidemiology Program, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA.
²¹ Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
²² School of Public Health and Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, 92350, USA.
²³ Westat, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA.
²⁴ Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA.
²⁵ Departments of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
²⁶ Division of Epidemiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA.

Abstract

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) sponsored a 2-day workshop, "Next Steps in Studying the Human Microbiome and Health in Prospective Studies," in Bethesda, Maryland, May 16-17, 2017. The workshop brought together researchers in the field to discuss the challenges of conducting microbiome studies, including study design, collection and processing of samples, bioinformatics and statistical methods, publishing results, and ensuring reproducibility of published results. The presenters emphasized the great potential of microbiome research in understanding the etiology of cancer. This report summarizes the workshop and presents practical suggestions for conducting microbiome studies, from workshop presenters, moderators, and participants.

Keywords: Biospecimen; Cancer; Cohort; Epidemiology; Microbiome; Prospective.

Publication types

Congress
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Computational Biology / methods*
Humans
Microbiota / physiology*
Neoplasms / etiology*
Prospective Studies
Reproducibility of Results
Research Design*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding